U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,060 B1 ('060) describes a magnetic pet litter apparatus that includes a magnetically-attractable pet litter contained within a pet litter box, or other litter containment structure, and includes one or more permanent magnets positioned externally to the litter box to magnetically attract and collect particles of the litter brought outside the litter box by a pet, such as a cat. As described in the '060 patent, the pet litter is a mixture of a bentonite clay containing sodium and 5% or more by weight of iron or a ferrous alloy. As described in the '060 patent, a preferred method of forming the litter particles is to blend iron or iron oxide in slurry form with the bentonite clay, such as the bentonite clay described in this assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,111.
As described in the '060 patent, pets such as cats that use litter boxes tend to scatter particles of litter outside of the litter box leaving an unsanitary mess for the pet owner to clean. This typically happens when, upon exiting the litter box, the pet scatters litter with its feet. The magnetically-attractable litter particles described herein are non-clumping and are combined with a magnetically-attractable metal so that the litter particles also are capable of being magnetically removed from a pet's feet upon exiting the litter box. The magnetically-attractable non-clumping animal litter particles described herein are particularly suitable for use in the magnetic apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,060 B1, or any other magnetic litter apparatus capable of attracting magnetically-attractable metal-containing litter particles.